by Nikki Kelly
It was over. A black hole inside convinced me that what the Pureblood had said was true. I didn’t know what I was, but I wasn’t who Gabriel thought I was. Not anymore.
“Lailah,” Gabriel began.
I leapt off the floor and grabbed for my throat; piercing stabs jabbed through my lungs and over my skin where the Pureblood had touched me. I scratched and scratched at my neck and I screamed long and hard, hoping that the sensation boiling within me would escape.
Gabriel’s body was hard as marble; every muscle now clenched and jutting from under his skin. He grabbed my wrists quickly, forcing them down to my sides. I shook my head violently. Why was this happening to me? What did they want with me? What was I? Intense anger bubbled under my skin.
“Look at me! Lailah!” Gabriel was shouting louder now, but I refused to give in to his wish. The last thing I wanted him to do was peer into my soul through these eyes. I didn’t own them and I had no idea what he might find.
With a dark and inhuman strength, I shook my arms away from him and forced his hands off my wrists. I bolted through the room, running over the painted sun and toward the entrance. Just as I reached it, the heavy door flew open and Jonah filled the doorway.
“Stop her!” Gabriel yelled.
I peered up at Jonah for a split second and took in the surprise stamped across his face. My eye sockets were burning and bloodied tears still streamed down my cheeks.
Jonah’s arms wrapped around me, forcing me in to his chest, holding me prisoner.
“I can’t let him see me like this.…” I whispered, and his body eased in reply.
Feeling confident that I was secured, he let his guard down. Taking advantage, I heaved him off me and made for the path.
I couldn’t run very fast; my legs were weak and I was disoriented. Hoping that no one else would find me, I stumbled through the door into the kitchen of the main house. Speeding along the hallway, I passed by Hanora, who was hovering on the edge of the lounge looking curiously toward me, but it seemed as though I was invisible to her.
Somehow I made it out of the house. I ran along the roadside. I blocked Gabriel; I didn’t want him sensing any part of the feelings that were surging through me. I scoped the landscape for somewhere quiet to calm down. I needed to be alone. Across the road there was an opening to a trail in the woods. I headed toward it, but smoke filled my vision as something hard knocked into my side. Stumbling, I flashed a glance back to the car that had caught me as I raced across the gray lane. I watched the stunned expression of the driver as he ground to a halt, the hood dented and concave. Unconcerned, I charged to the trail. The driver lowered his window, but I had already gone into the woods so I failed to hear the profanities.
My legs slowed me, so as soon as I found a tree with a trunk large enough to conceal me I slumped to its roots. Shaking, I tried to compose myself, but the heat fizzing through my body was still raw and aggressive. Beads of sweat tumbled from my forehead and I was painfully aware of the fact that I was still streaming tears of blood. I felt so dizzy. I moved my arm back and forth and it came in and out of focus, as though it didn’t exist in this world. I forced my eyes shut and tried to think of happy things, good things. Gabriel. The two of us playing chess, wrapped around one another in the barn, the softness of his lips brushing my own …
As the images rolled repeatedly on a loop, my body began to cool and I stopped feeling nauseous. I placed my hand over my crystal ring hanging at the bottom of the chain, hiding underneath my blouse. Feeling the soft edges of the crystal across my palm instantly comforted me.
Just then the heavens opened and torrential rain poured down, quickly soaking me through. I raised my head and let it wash over my face. I sobbed. Ordinary tears merged with the raindrops, forming an alliance.
Curling into a ball, I cradled myself, arms wrapped around my legs. I didn’t know where I was, or how dangerous it could be outside unaccompanied.
Lailah, where are you? My being filled with light and suddenly I wasn’t alone.
I didn’t reply.
You can’t be outside by yourself. Tell me where you are.
I disconnected. I knew it was wrong. I knew I shouldn’t be out here, and I didn’t want to be alone, but I was afraid of my own self. I needed more time to be sure that the Pureblood wasn’t coming back. I didn’t want Gabriel to ever see me like that again. So I imagined building a wall in front of the entrance to the tunnel. Visualizing it, I placed the last brick in the gap and silence fell. I squeezed my legs more tightly into my chest and rocked myself.
* * *
I MUST HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP as the rain battered down. Once more the winter reached the core of my bones and, wearing only jeans and my ripped blouse, I was frozen through.
The day was nearly over; the sun was starting to set through the thick mist that surrounded me. I panicked. I knew I wasn’t safe. Would they have all left without me? Were they searching for me? I didn’t know, but only now did I feel a twinge of guilt. How long had I been out? It only felt like moments, but the sun retiring to sleep once more proved I had been gone too long.
I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing the haze to clear and attempting to knock the wall down. He must have been waiting for me.
Lailah, please! Where are you?
I responded by conjuring an image in my mind of the scenery around me and the large tree under which I was sitting. It couldn’t have been more than a minute later that he literally appeared right beside me. He wasted no time scooping me up off the bark and thrusting my body against his. He clung to me, allowing no space between us, pushing his hand into my soaking hair. Eventually I removed my face from his chest and stared up into his eyes; they were enlarged with worry and brimming over with sadness.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
His reply was firm and convincing, but now the anger had subsided and I was starting to feel like some form of human again, I was confused. Worse still, I was completely vulnerable.
“Never block me out again, you hear? I’m trying to protect you, to keep you safe. I need you to be on my side for me to do that. Do you understand?”
I nodded apologetically.
In the moment of my innocence, I forgot myself. “You loved me once before.…” I sniffed.
“Yes.” His answer was swift.
“I’m not the same person you knew,” I said. “I have changed; I haven’t even the slightest clue who Lailah is. She’s a stranger to me. I don’t know who I am, I never have.”
He didn’t reply immediately but pulled me closer, kissing the top of my forehead. “You’re wrong. When I look at you, I’m met with the same person. Your smile may have weakened and your eyes may have grown weary, but you are no different from the beautiful girl I fell in love with. And somehow, if it is even possible, I feel more connected to you now than ever before.”
Despite the force with which he exerted his words, I couldn’t help but feel that he was trying to convince himself more than he was me.
He tilted my chin up toward him, but kept his hand spread tightly in the arch of my lower back, his eyes daring to reach deep down within me. He touched my cheeks gently before bending down and placing the lightest of kisses against my lips.
“Lailah,” he said. “I need you to decide for yourself what it is you really want.”
I read between the lines. What he actually meant was that I needed to decide who it was I really wanted.
My lips trembled. “Your face has been the only constant I have ever known. I would bet good money that ever since the day you left, I’ve been able to feel you. It’s an extraordinary, inexplicable yet inevitable force that I can’t deny. I may not know what I am, but one thing I am certain of is that whatever it is I may be and whatever it is I may want, none of it matters without you.” I began to sob, but I had run dry of tears.
“Ah, but Lailah.” He stopped, his hand clenching into a ball-shaped fist against my spine. “Lail
ah,” he repeated. “I would never let inevitability dictate your happiness. Wherever your path is meant to lead, you deserve and you should command the choice to decide. In your decisions, inevitability doesn’t rule you.” I watched his jaw lock, though it did nothing to harden his features.
What was it that I wanted? Normality? No. Though I had envied it, my destiny was not aimed at “normal.” I knew I wanted Gabriel. But to really know why that was, first I had to understand what I was and perhaps more importantly, who I was now.
I breathed in the smell of the damp soil. The rain continued to lash down. Gabriel’s shirt was stuck to his chest. The white fabric had become transparent and the muscles along his torso were clearly visible. His scent of citrus had diluted with the rain, but I could still taste him. He rubbed my shoulders repeatedly, finally reaching for my hand. I gave it gratefully.
We had reached stalemate; there was nothing left to say. Not yet. Before either of us could calculate our next move, we would have to be still and patient for a while longer.
Filling my body with heat through his touch, Gabriel instructed, “Come on, we have to leave, it’s almost dark.” His tone was urgent.
We emerged onto the curb in front of the driveway to find the metal bars of the gate bent and discarded. Hissing shrieks deafened my self-pity into silence.
They were here.
FIFTEEN
GABRIEL’S EYES SNAPPED TO ME and I met them with alarm.
“You need to go, Lailah! Now!” He lifted me and ran until his gaze finally settled on an old, rusted Ford parked in the distance. He yanked open the door, quickly bundling me into the driver’s seat. He touched the ignition with his index finger and the engine kicked in. Neat trick. “Drive as far as you can. Do you have your cell?”
“No,” I replied, stifling my shock.
Thrusting his iPhone into my palm, he ordered me to leave and I hesitated, mounting a protest that never managed to leave my lips.
“You have to go now! I have to help the others and you need to leave!”
I knew arguing would result in wasted minutes, so I nodded as he slammed the door shut and I put the car into first gear and pulled away. I looked for him in the rearview mirror, but he had already disappeared. I hit the brake and it squeaked in reply; I then jiggled the old gear stick into neutral. Did he honestly think that I would run away? Leave him and the others to perish at my hunters’ hands? Perhaps he didn’t know me that well after all.
Grinding the round leather knob into reverse, I pulled backward down the road, accelerating fast, finally plummeting to a halt outside the gates. I took a deep breath and made my way to the discarded pieces of metal strewn over the smooth concrete.
The sun had set and was replaced by a half-moon that hung low in the sky, watching me walk into impenetrable uncertainty.
A glint of light reflected off my crystal, spilling out over my blouse; it caught my attention as it bounced off a jagged piece of metal. Scooping up the bar, I ran my fingertip along the edge. It was deadly sharp.
Now armed—well, sort of—I realized Gabriel might feel my presence, so as I drew nearer I built my brick wall once more. As the hissing, shrill shrieks pierced my hearing, the hairs on my arm stood on end, and I once again wished that I could remain concealed.
As I tiptoed through the door, I was greeted by the sound of shattering windowpanes and the blast of hurtling bodies, causing my legs to tremble in response. Edging underneath the staircase, I crouched down—unmoving—in the corner, weighing my immediate options.
Formulating a plan against a Vampire attack was far outside of my experience. Noise filled every gap around me; it could only be moments before I would be faced with one of them. I heard a pub regular say once that the best form of defense was attack; albeit he was an overweight lump of a man, and he was talking football tactics, but it was the best I had. I mustered my courage, but just as I was about to charge from under the staircase, I heard Michael’s panicked voice coming from the lounge.
“What are you doing? I led you to her, we had an agreement!”
This confession caused my skin to crawl. Michael was the reason they were here. He had told them. He had betrayed Gabriel. He had betrayed all of us. The response that met him was simply a series of harrowing high-pitched noises; I knew it was a Pureblood Vampire. This had to be Michael’s maker, the most deadly force inside this house, his Gualtiero—Eligio.
Despite that fact, I found myself rising from the ground and catapulting myself into the hallway. Michael certainly didn’t deserve my help, but then if it hadn’t been for me he wouldn’t be about to meet his end either.
My fingers gripped the wooden doorframe. I began to raise the jagged metal in my free hand, but just as I was about to dart forward, thick layers of flashing hot ash and dust smothered me as if I had been caught in a volcanic eruption. I was too late.
I didn’t have time to wipe away Michael’s remnants. Repositioning my body and regaining my balance, I spun around as a spine-tingling scream reverberated upstairs. Without thinking, I flew up the staircase, but fell as the house vibrated and rocked. Jumping back to my feet, I followed the sound. I didn’t have to open the bedroom door; half the wall was missing as though a demolition ball had smashed through it.
Brooke was cowering in the corner of the room, sobbing, covering her eyes. Jonah was protecting her, engaged in a death match. He hurled the Vampire into the other wall. The Vampire plummeted through it, but bounced back within a millisecond. His fangs hung like deadly daggers from his mouth. In an instant he had Jonah pinned on the carpet and was ready to rip him apart.
My mind emptied and I sprinted over to the Vampire, and with all my might I plunged the metal bar into the creature’s left shoulder blade, breaking through the muscle and bone, straight through to the other side of his chest. My aim was so precise that I just missed stabbing Jonah, who lay underneath him. The Vampire screeched and spun around. But before he had a chance to meet the gaze of his killer, he exploded into burning ash and dust.
Jonah jumped up and grabbed me by my arm, which was still extended in front of me, shaking. “What are you doing here? You have to go!” he shouted.
His eyes locked with mine; an instant connection swelled between us. I broke it and nodded over to Brooke, who was lifting herself up using the wall to leverage her body. “Take her away from here,” I said. “Look after her.”
I hadn’t intended for my words to sound so final, but my inner voice was reasoning that this was most likely the end. If I were to ever meet Jonah again, I would likely not remember him. I turned my body reluctantly from his and moved back in the direction of the gaping hole in the wall.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. Reaching for my waist, he held me tightly and protectively. “You’re coming with us,” he whispered.
I realized he was afraid for me. I shook my head. “Where is he?”
Jonah’s shoulders slumped; he knew I wasn’t about to leave without Gabriel and he didn’t have time to try and convince me otherwise. If Brooke stayed here any longer, she would surely perish. She was no fighter.
He blew hot air from his mouth and cracked his jaw from side to side. “Last I saw of him, he was on the ground floor.”
“What are you waiting for? Go!” I commanded, and unwillingly he charged to Brooke, lifting her easily.
He perched on the ledge of the window, but before he jumped he said, “I’m coming back for you.”
I was already making my way through the broken pieces of plaster, but his words fell around me and I knew that he meant it.
As I reached the landing, three Vampires stooping below flashed their red, bloodied orbs at me, their prize. I had nothing to defend myself with, I had no hope; all I could do now was call to Gabriel.
I need you—
The adrenaline that was pumping through me began to grow hotter as I lost myself to the Vampires’ enraged eyes. As my blood boiled beneath my skin, my cry for Gabriel gave way to a shadow that f
lickered to the left of me. I broke my stare away from the Vampires growling below me as her long dark hair stroked my skin.
She was back.
All three ascended into the air, up to the banister rail that ran the length of the landing. I tripped backward, shocked, as from behind her I watched blades slice through her knuckles. She made a low howling noise that seemed to come from deep inside her. The girl’s form matched the color of the night that had wrapped itself around the house, masking her into little more than a faint silhouette. It was only through the blur of flame caused from an explosion below, which lit her arms now poised away from her waist, that I saw the ink of her tattoos.
Two of the Vampires hesitated on the tip of the railing, unsure of their next move. But the other, undeterred, hurtled forward, flying above her head. She raised her hand; he was only inches from her face, plummeting down, when suddenly he stopped. She held him suspended above her, cricking her neck from side to side—almost contemplatively—before she reached her bladed hand up and struck his chest, crushing through his bone in a clenched fist. The shriek that burst out of the Vampire’s lungs sent shock waves through my whole body.
The girl only twitched a little as she whispered, “Shhhh…”
I couldn’t see her expression, but I could tell she was smiling.
As she opened her hand from inside his chest, she slowly sliced open his blackened heart and he burst into a waterfall of thick oil. It poured at such a speed that it hit the floor and splashed back, splattering my skin from where I took in the scene, disbelieving. Whatever she was, she was far more powerful than any Second Generation Vampire.
The same realization must have hit the two malefactors that were still perched on the ledge. Their features filled with awe and both turned at the same moment, rushing to escape. She wasn’t about to let them leave. She toyed with them, willing them nearer with a gesture of her finger. She wasn’t just saving me, she was playing a game that she evidently enjoyed. That thought terrified me more than anything else.
I whimpered as she tore their throats out with her teeth, finally ending them. Spitting blood from her mouth, she began to move down the length of the staircase without even glancing back at me.